Tell me it's not True
by Inion Lugh
Summary: Ardeth learns the painful truth about being immortal. Sequel to Lift the Wings


Disclaimer: I don't own Ardeth Bay or Imhotep, but I do own Mai'ingan, Kaysa, Intad, and Jion, as well as Kaysa's husband. The song "Tell Me It's Not True" is from Blood Brothers by Willy Russell.  
  
Author's Note: Yeah, this is pretty short. I know. It was supposed to be short. Also, please note that this is a sequel to Lift The Wings, which I also wrote. It is the second story in my group of three, so there's one more on the way, set a thousand years after this one. Should be interesting, eh?  
  
  
  
Tell Me It's Not True  
  
1 "Tell me it's not true  
  
Say it's just a story  
  
Something on the news  
  
Tell me it's not true  
  
Say it's just a dream  
  
Say it's just a scene  
  
From an old movie with Marilyn Monroe  
  
Say it's just some clowns  
  
Two players in the limelight  
  
Bring the curtain down  
  
Say it's just two clowns  
  
Who couldn't get their lines right  
  
Say it's just a show on the radio  
  
And we can turn over and start again  
  
That we can turn over it's only a game.  
  
Tell me it's not true  
  
Say I only dreamed it  
  
Morning will come soon  
  
Tell me it's not true  
  
Say you didn't mean it  
  
Say it's just pretend  
  
Say it's just the end  
  
Of an old movie from years ago  
  
From an old movie with Marilyn Monroe  
  
Tell me it's not true  
  
Say you didn't mean it  
  
Say it's just pretend  
  
Say it's just the end  
  
Of an old movie from years ago  
  
From an old movie with Marilyn Monroe"  
  
--- Tell Me It's Not True  
  
The sun shone brightly overhead, but Ardeth Bay ignored it. He cast a quick glance at Mai'ingan, who smiled back warmly from atop her horse. In these times, most of the Medjai thought she was insane, to use a horse rather than a car, but she ignored them. Always enjoying the past, Ardeth would say fondly of his wife. He preferred a horse, but in such desperate times, changes had to be made.  
  
It was the year 2000. If anyone had ever told Ardeth that he would live to see the change of the century, he would have laughed right in their face. He had told Mai'ingan this once, and she laughed. "You're going to see quite a few century changes, pal. Get used to it."  
  
Despite all that was happening in his life, he was happy. He had Mai'ingan, he had his two wonderful children Kaysa and Innis, and he had a mission- guard Hamunaptra. Even if it wasn't necessary, the city where he had met his closest friends held special meaning in his heart, and he was determined to see that it was kept safe. He even had four grandchildren- one of who sat in the seat next to Ardeth. He smiled at Intad, and the middle-aged man glanced up with a smile. He reminds me of me, Ardeth thought. So young, so hopeful, so strong.  
  
Mai'ingan bent down to peer through the window. "Anything coming yet?" she asked. Ardeth raised his binoculars and shook his head.  
  
"You almost sound like you want somebody to attack," Ardeth laughed.  
  
Intad smiled. "Grandmother, you certainly are a rare one."  
  
"And you'd best remember that, Boy," she said. A ringing ripped through the desert, and Mai'ingan turned to stare into a nearby car. "A cell phone? Who the hell has a cell phone?"  
  
Intad laughed. "I believe that would be my good cousin Jion. There's also one back at camp. You never can tell when you might need to talk to someone."  
  
Mai'ingan looked at Ardeth. "I remember the good old days, when we had birds to carry messages, not machines."  
  
Intad grinned. "I'm not even going to start with you, Grandmother. You know, you really should start modernizing."  
  
"If I modernized along with the rest of the world every time a change happened, I would spend my whole life just trying to keep up with the changes."  
  
A car door slammed, and Mai'ingan turned to see Jion racing over to her. "Grandmother! We must return quickly to the rest of the tribe- we must go now!"  
  
"Why?" she asked, gesturing to the city. "We've got important business to be doing."  
  
"Grandmother, Grandfather, that was my good uncle Imhotep who phoned."  
  
Mai'ingan scowled. "Why is he using a cell phone?"  
  
"What did he want, Jion?" Ardeth asked, smiling at Mai'ingan.  
  
"Well, you see, Grandfather." He faltered. "My mother is.very ill."  
  
Ardeth's eyes widened, and he looked at Mai'ingan. She nodded solemnly. "She will leave us soon. We must go to her."  
  
"She's not that old," Ardeth said shortly.  
  
"For a woman who lives in the desert, seventy is a long time to live."  
  
"She is not yet seventy!"  
  
"Ardeth!" Mai'ingan said sharply. "Just drive. Don't wait for me, I'll meet you back at the camp."  
  
As she raced her horse through the desert, Mai'ingan knew that Ardeth was in deep pain. He was experiencing the terror of immortality- watching while his friends and loved ones fell, while he stayed the same. Mai'ingan knew it was taking a great toll on his mentality, but never brought the subject up.  
  
She arrived at the camp and was greeted by the young Medjai. They tethered her horse and she hurried to Kaysa's house. Kaysa lay on a small bed, looking pale and weak, and her husband held her hand. Jion, their only child, was holding his mother's other hand. Ardeth held a rag and was wetting Kaysa's face, but Mai'ingan knew that his efforts to save her were in vain. She was dying.  
  
Mai'ingan knelt down by Kaysa and touched her daughter's cheek.  
  
"M.Mother." Kaysa said weakly.  
  
"I'm here, darling, worry not."  
  
"Talk.need.talk."  
  
Mai'ingan looked up at Kaysa's husband, who nodded. "She's been saying that she wants to talk to you and Ardeth in private."  
  
"If you don't mind, then."  
  
"Of course not."  
  
Jion, Intad, and Kaysa's husband left the hut, leaving Ardeth, Mai'ingan, and Kaysa alone.  
  
Mai'ingan smiled down at her daughter. "You've been very brave through your life, my daughter. I'm very proud of you."  
  
She smiled weakly, then looked at Ardeth, who was fighting back tears. "Papa.don't cry.I'll be fine."  
  
"You're dying, Kaysa," he whispered, stroking her hair.  
  
"Going on.to a."  
  
"Going on to a better place," Mai'ingan said for her daughter. Kaysa smiled.  
  
"Don't.be.too.upset.please." Her voice came out brokenly, and Ardeth drew in a sharp breath.  
  
Mai'ingan stood up and hurried to fetch the rest of her family, knowing that time was short. When they returned to the hut, Ardeth was sobbing while folding Kaysa's arms across her chest. Mai'ingan looked around to her family, then gently took Ardeth's arm and led him from the room.  
  
"You knew that we would lose everyone we cared about," Mai'ingan said quietly. "We would lose everyone except each other. You agreed."  
  
He closed his eyes. "I did not imagine.the gap is terrible."  
  
Mai'ingan smiled. "Rick and Evie, Jonathan, Alex, Kaysa.they all live."  
  
He looked at her through blurred vision. "How can you say that?"  
  
Mai'ingan shook her head. "They live in us, in their family, in their children and grandchildren, Ardeth. Everything that they have ever taught us, everything they have shared, everything we remember about them, keep them alive." She reached up and pulled a necklace from under her shirt. "Do you remember this?"  
  
Ardeth took it, studied it, then laughed. "Jonathan had it crafted from the gold you brought him from The Aviad all those years ago."  
  
Mai'ingan nodded. "Yes, he did. Do you remember what he told me as he gave it to me?"  
  
"I believe it was, 'We could have been great together, me and you, but you had to go and choose the desert warrior, didn't you?'"  
  
Mai'ingan laughed. "Yes." She held up the small necklace, which was glowing a glorious shade of white. "What he did not know was that when my thoughts of him are strong, the pendant glows. I remember, and he lives in my mind."  
  
Ardeth met her gaze. "Somehow, that doesn't seem to be enough."  
  
Mai'ingan grinned childishly at him. "Doesn't it? Just remember, you'll always have me. And if I'm not good enough, then I don't know who is."  
  
Ardeth mustered up a smile for her efforts and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Mai'ingan. You know that, right?"  
  
She touched his cheek gently. "Yeah, Ardeth, I figured that much." She slipped her hand into his and smiled softly. "Ardeth, with an immortal life, death is something you learn to accept."  
  
"Does it ever get easier?"  
  
She hesitated, then shrugged. "I guess it would be a lot harder on me now if I didn't know that I would at least always have you."  
  
He grinned. "That puts quite a bit of pressure on my shoulders."  
  
Mai'ingan raised an eyebrow. "I can only think of one upside to being immortal and watching all of our kids die before our eyes."  
  
"There is one?"  
  
She grinned impishly at him. "Well.we can always have more, if you get my meaning."  
  
Ardeth drew her close to him and smiled. "I never thought of it that way."  
  
He kissed her cheek, then tugged her in the direction of their own hut. "We'll bury her tomorrow. Tonight, we mourn in our own way."  
  
Mai'ingan blinked innocently. "Whatever you say, dear."  
  
Finis 


End file.
